Skillful attention to lived experience, willingness to face fear, and awareness of spaciousness from which everything arises result in a dynamic and vital life experience. See my book "Being Prayer" for explanation of these practices being appropriate for any tradition, particularly Christianity.

Friday, April 30, 2010

And what might we regard as strong? The rhinoceros comes to mind, or the ox, or the predators of land, sky and sea (lions, raptors, and sharks, for example). Strong might also mean tenacious, such as the weeds you seek in vain to eliminate from the garden, or the persistent pests inhabiting the dark corners of your kitchen or basement. Or strength could refer to political and economic power, such as that wielded by the generals of the hunta, the lords of the financial industry, or the jailers of the innocent.

Can we experience loving kindness, even toward these? ... Even the strongest creature will inevitably grow old, infirm and will face death. Power will inevitably slip from the grasp of even the most triumphant. Again, it is not that such people “deserve” our loving kindness, as much as we deserve to be without hatred for anyone at all...

Perhaps we could also recognize, love, and appreciate what is powerful and does not cause harm. Strength can be a virtue, depending on its character. Is the character wholesome or unwholesome? Does its manifestation cultivate kindness toward others and toward myself?

I saw a couple fighting over a baby in a park one day. Without thinking, or I probably wouldn't have acted in this way, I went up to them and said, "Someone has to let go of the baby."

Was the young woman strong who kept the baby? Or the young man who let go?

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

It is not so difficult to feel loving kindness for the weak, is it? There is something in us, no doubt inherited from our mammalian ancestors, that moves us to care for what is weak, to value what is fleeting, and to protect what is vulnerable. The cherry blossom in Japanese tradition is so beloved because it is so fragile and fleeting; beauty and sadness are bound together in a single moment’s poignant aesthetic appreciation. As an active exercise of visualization, look around you and see if you can call to mind, with a compassionate attitude, all those quiet, hidden things that are less robust than you are.

Join us on the Practice Board to work further with his commentary in small steps at a time, like this one. Consider his suggestion to look around or see if you "can call to mind, with a compassionate attitude, all those quiet, hidden things that are less robust than you are."

We might also look inside ourselves, see what is weak and love that, too.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Ultimate Reality or Nibbana - from a famous debate between a monk, Nagasena, and King Milinda (Menander) sometime between 160-153 BCE

“Reverend Nagasena, you are continually talking about Nibbana. Now is it possible to make clear the form or figure or age or dimensions of this Nibbana, either by an illustration or by a reason or by a cause or by a method?”

“Nibbana, great king, is unlike anything else; it is impossible.”

“This, Reverend Nagasena, I cannot admit, – that if Nibbana really exists, it should be impossible to make known its form or figure or age or dimensions, either by an illustration or by a reason or by a cause or by a method. Tell me why.”

“Let be, great king; I will tell you why.”

“Is there, great king, such a thing as the great ocean?”

“Yes, Reverend Sir, there is such a thing as the great ocean.”

“If, great king, some man were to ask you: ‘Great king, how much water is there in the great ocean? And how many living creatures dwell in the great ocean?’ If, great king, some man were to ask you this question, how would you answer him?”

“If, Reverend Sir, some man were to ask me: ‘Great king, how much water is there in the great ocean? And how many living creatures dwell in the great ocean?’ I, Reverend Sir, should say this to him: ‘The question you ask, Master man, is a question you have no right to ask; that is no question for anybody to ask; that question must be set aside. The hair-splitters have never gone into the subject of the great ocean. It is impossible to measure the water in the great ocean, or to count the living beings that make their abode there.’ That is the reply I should give him, Reverend Sir.”

“But, great king, if the great ocean really exists, why should you give him such a reply as that? Surely you ought to measure and count, and then tell him: “There is so much water in the great ocean, and there are so many living beings dwelling in the great ocean!”

“It’s impossible, Reverend Sir. That question isn’t a fair one.”

“Great king, just as, although the great ocean exists, it is impossible to measure the water or to count the living beings that make their abode there, precisely so, great king, although Nibbana really exists, it is impossible to make clear the form or figure or age or dimensions of Nibbana, either by an illustration or by a reason or by a cause or by a method. Great king, a person possessed of magical power, possessed of mastery over mind, could estimate the quantity of water in the great ocean and the number of living beings dwelling there; but that person possessed of magical power, possessed of mastery over mind, would never be able to make clear the form or figure or age or dimensions of Nibbana, either by an illustration or by a reason or by a cause or by a method.”

This is the first part of a famous dialogue between the monk Nagasena and Menander, a Greek king who reigned between 160-153 BCE. A fuller version (Milndapanha 315-323 -abridged, E.W. Burlingame trans.) is posted on the Member Practice Board. http://citta101.com/practice/index.php

Friday, April 16, 2010

PAUL SOLMAN: ....people need enough dollars to survive... But, after that, humans want autonomy, a sense of purpose, mastery.DANIEL PINK: We do things because they're interesting. We do things because we like them. We do things because we get better at them, because they contribute to the world, even if they don't have a payoff in getting a reward or satisfying some -- some biological drive.This is not a plea for a kinder, gentler approach to business. This is a plea for saying, let's wake up. Let's get past our outdated assumptions, and let's actually run businesses in concert with what the science shows about human performance.excerpt from Paul Solman on PBS news in business

We do need a certain amount of income to be comfortable and at ease in life, but beyond that money is not the primary motivation of human beings. It is also not a motivator that is kind to people.

Business organizations may be motivated by money; that is to say, the organizational structure cannot replicate human motivations. This may be one reason that a business should not be legally treated as a person.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Some creatures are moving because they are agitated, unsatisfied, or driven by craving, and this in the Buddhist context invokes the sense of frailty or weakness. Similarly when one is firmly grounded, tranquil and at rest, this expresses a condition of greater strength and stability.
Andy Olendzki commenting on the metta sutta

How different our take on "only the strong survive" when we look at strength and weakness from this context. It is strength of character and mind that survive. The truth is our shelter, not dominating power born from fear, agitation, or craving. Brute strength may get some temporary results, but nothing lasting.

Craving and fear are normal, human qualities of mind, but when acted upon mindlessly indicate frailty or weakness, an inability of the mind to be with itself and respond skillfully. Strength of mind gives us the power to be with things as they are, to respond skillfully and appropriately given current circumstances and long term effects.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Gautama Buddha was famous for his honesty. He valued highly speaking the truth, and, reputedly, never lied - more precisely, he never misrepresented the truth. This is a powerful capacity, perhaps synonymous with being awake, being fully realized, enlightened. Yet it is a clear and simple goal. It seems attainable. Doesn’t it?

Of course, seeing what is true is not so easy. Ignorance is our primary poison because it is so insidious. However, as we remove obscurations, as we develop our capacity to walk the path, we see more clearly, we deepen clarity and wisdom.

In our culture, perhaps the most pervasive blindness is that caused by being entranced by all our wealth and its benefits. It is easy to be comfortable, to be removed from the realities of life, from what is really true, from what is painful and uncomfortable, but also what is immediately precious – any moment of being really alive. Instead of seeing the beauty of being alive, we escape into all kinds of mindless pleasures, mind blurring use of mind-altering substances is only the most obvious. There are many other things.

Not to discount the chemical addictions (drugs and alcohol). Discontinuing mind altering substances is the most direct and immediate thing we can do to open to what is true - clearing the mind to be in direct contact with our experience and feelings. We can quit participating in our cultural addictions like redundant news that isn't really news, enticements to buy, buying to make up for what we are being taught to think of as missing.

It is shocking but helpful to be reminded by life of what is insubstantial - that is to say, everything.

Loss of a family and dear friends to death

Loss of life, health, and youth

Losing what seems so evidently right

Losing perspectives about who we think we are

Getting what we want and realizing it doesn't hold our interest

Betrayal

We will be betrayed by people we trust. Seldom due to ill intent. In fact, we also will unintentionally hurt other people.

We will suffer loss of loved ones. And, ideally, recognize the potential in ourselves. My body, too, will be like this. This body, too, will die. The heart will stop beating. The breath no longer flow. This body, too, will get ill and age. The skin will wrinkle, discolor and lose its plasticity. Eventually, the whole body will disintegrate, returning to dust, to basic elements. There will be loss of dreams and desires and just rewards.

What we can all do is choose to be honest – radically honest. We can let ourselves see what it true. Of course, we don't drown in what is painful, but we can see things as they are. We choose to be interested in any experience.

A friend died of a sudden aggressive cancer that went to the brain. She lost one capacity after another in quite short order, including motor skills and capacity to speak. One of the last intelligible words to go was "interesting." She repeatedly referred to the disintegrating process as interesting.

Can we be interested enough in things as they are to be in touch with what is true? Can we look unflinchingly at current reality and have a certain sense of ease or integrity, of strength in just knowing we know, knowing we can see the truth and stand up to this moment and the next, at ease in just being.

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We need only invoke the power of mindful awareness in any action of body, speech or mind to elevate that action from the unconscious reflex of a trained creature to the awakened choice of a human being who is guided to a higher life by wisdom. - Andrew Olendzki